| Summary: | 碩士 === 長榮大學 === 職業安全與衛生學系碩士班 === 106 === Formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, and xylene are widely used in medical institutions nowadays. Formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde are often used for cleaning and disinfecting apparatuses. Xylene is the necessary solvent of making a pathological section and anticorrosion. Long exposure to formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and xylene can harm to the organs, such as eyes, respiratory tract, and skin, as well as lead to the danger toward the health. Moreover, it may increase the risk of having cancer. Thus, the related health care workers are at high risk of exposure. In this study, focusing on the departments which are more prone to have occupational diseases, personal and area sampling methods were performed to understand the exposure situation of the health care workers. Exposure measurements were compared with the permissible exposure limits (PELs) of Taiwan to understand whether the exposure concentrations exceeded the legal standards and to provide effective preventive measures. This study focused on the supply rooms, endoscope rooms, division of general laboratory, division of pathology, and operating rooms of five hospitals to conduct personal and area exposure measurements of the chemicals in the work environments. Silicone tubes coated with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine(2,4-DNPH) were used to collect formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. Activated charcoal tubs were used to collect xylene. Air sampling pumps set at a suitable flow rate were used to draw the air into the sampling tubes. The collected samples are analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet detector (HPLC) and gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC/FID). The results showed: for the five hospitals, the 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposures of formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and xylene for personal samples were 18.18(±26.64), 2.39(±5.40) and 40.15(±14.42) ppb; for area samples 16.92(±15.94), 3.15(±8.03) and 38.64(±5.96) ppb, respectively. The results indicated that the average concentrations of formaldehyde exposure of the workers were statistically significantly different at these five hospitals. Since many measured values were lower than the limits of the detection, there was no statistically significant difference in the average exposure concentrations of glutaraldehyde and xylene for the hospitals. Based on the exposure measurements of formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and xylene for the workers in the hospitals much lower than the PELs of Taiwan, the workers’ exposure was in compliance with legal standards and there was no excessive risk of health effects. The only thing needed to note was that the workers might have short-term high concentration exposure to formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde during the operation periods. Thus, to reduce the risk, it will be necessary to confirm the installation of a local exhaust ventilation system and the wearing of suitable protective equipment during the operation periods.
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